Stake using Creditcoin CLI

Running from the Docker image

Make sure your Creditcoin Node container is running and use Creditcoin CLI via the docker exec command.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin --help

Security notes: When using docker, employ docker exec as specified in these docs to keep sensitive values out of the container's logs on your system.

Only use the Creditcoin CLI to administer a validator from its own machine or container. Do not use the Creditcoin CLI to remotely administer a validator even on the same LAN or virtual network. Connections to the node, from the Creditcoin CLI, are made over unencrypted and unauthenticated websockets and are only safe for use on the loopback interface. (i.e localhost, 127.0.0.1)

Remember that, when using any terminal or command line tool, commands entered in your terminal window are visible to other users and services on your system. Only enter secrets like seed phrases when prompted by the Creditcoin CLI.

Creating Accounts

Create an account using the new command and write down the seed phrase.

docker exec creditcoin-validator creditcoin new

The output should look like the following:

Creating new seed phrase...
Seed phrase: owner amateur hungry hockey clerk size parrot jump rural mad pretty gauge

Use show-address to get the address for the account by entering the seed phrase, so you can fund it with a transfer. This will be the Stash account that will hold all tokens meant for staking.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin show-address

Output:

✔ Specify a seed phrase for the caller account … *************************************************************************
Account Substrate address: 5CUnLxUCFqtGkre7MZwyX66E3kPMKDXra4FYtiYp5SoDUwKM
Associated EVM address: 0x125cff2b5d2e00c0a0b632a7c1979c19bf70ac22

Funding Your Account

Once your account is created, make sure it has enough CTC to cover the desired staking amount plus transaction fees. To fund an account, you can transfer from another wallet using a number of tools such as Subwallet, Talisman, the PolkadotJS extension or Creditcoin CLI.

The minimum amount of CTC required on testnet to become a validator is currently 20 000 CTC.

You can confirm the balance of your account by following the directions mentioned in the Checking your Balance section of the Creditcoin CLI 3 page.

Validator Wizard

Creditcoin CLI provides a simple Wizard to set up validators. wizard will prompt you for the previously generated seed phrase. After launching the wizard and providing it with the seed phrase, it will show us the complete validator setup options and prompt us to continue.

Security note:

Account’s private keys are derived from these seed phrases.

Every account must have a unique seed phrase.

Remember to use separate accounts (i.e. new seed phrases) for testnet and mainnet validators.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin wizard --amount <ctc-amount>

It will show the current staking settings, make sure to check them before continuing.

🧙 Running staking wizard...
Using the following parameters:
💰 Stash account: 5CUnLxUCFqtGkre7MZwyX66E3kPMKDXra4FYtiYp5SoDUwKM
🪙  Amount to bond: 20000 CTC
🎁 Reward destination: Staked
📡 Node URL: ws://127.0.0.1:9944
💸 Commission: 0
🔐 Blocked: No
Continue? (y/n): y

After continuing, the Wizard will create all required extrinsics (i.e. transactions) and communicate with the node to pair it with the stash account.

Once the transactions are sent, the new validator should be in the waiting queue.

Use the status command to get information about the status of a particular validator by entering its Stash address.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin status --substrate-address 5CGBosx2Fw34u9jJtSgEQkoNTtHkPLKgsfjJiE3mDSWb44MW

The validator status will be shown:

Validator 5CGBosx2Fw34u9jJtSgEQkoNTtHkPLKgsfjJiE3mDSWb44MW:
┌────────────────┬──────┐
│ Status         │      │
├────────────────┼──────┤
│ Bonded         │ Yes  │
├────────────────┼──────┤
│ Validating     │ Yes  │
├────────────────┼──────┤
│ Waiting        │ Yes  │
├────────────────┼──────┤
│ Active         │ No   │
├────────────────┼──────┤
│ Can withdraw   │ No   │
├────────────────┼──────┤
│ Next unlocking │ None │
└────────────────┴──────┘

If the validator shows up as Waiting the setup has been successful and it will become active if it gets enough backing.

Manual Setup

Setting a validator can also be done by sending each required command manually.

First bond CTC using your Stash account and enter the CTC amount to stake.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin bond --amount <ctc-amount>

Set the validator node keys. The --rotate flag specifies that the node will generate new keys. Existing keys can be used with the --keys <key-string> option.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin set-keys --rotate

Once keys are set up, the last step is signaling the network the intention to validate. Use the --commission <commission-percent> option to set up a portion of the block reward that will not be shared with nominators or the --blocked flag to block nominations.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin validate --commission <commission-percent>

Distributing Rewards

It is conventionally the validator operator's responsibility to trigger the reward distribution at the end of every era. The address of the stash account doubles as the validator's ID when distributing rewards.

Remember, you can compute the stash account's address by running the following and providing the stash account's seed phrase when prompted:

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin show-address

With the stash address in hand, run the distribute-rewards command.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin distribute-rewards --era <era number> --substrate-address <validator-address>

Stopping a Validator

Stop a running validator with the chill command. This will remove the validator from the active/waiting set in the next session.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin chill

Unbonding CTC

To unbond locked CTC, validators must first mark their tokens for unbonding, then wait for the unlocking period to end and finally withdraw the unbonded funds.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin unbond --amount <amount>

The status command shows when the next unlocking chunk will be available to withdraw.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin status --substrate-address <stash-address>

Validator 5CGBosx2Fw34u9jJtSgEQkoNTtHkPLKgsfjJiE3mDSWb44MW:
┌────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┐
│ Status         │                                 │
├────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┤
│ Bonded         │ Yes                             │
├────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┤
│ Validating     │ Yes                             │
├────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┤
│ Waiting        │ Yes                             │
├────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┤
│ Active         │ No                              │
├────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┤
│ Can withdraw   │ No                              │
├────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┤
│ Next unlocking │1000 CTC in 6 minutes, 5 seconds │
└────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┘

After the unbonding period has passed, withdraw the funds.

docker exec -it creditcoin-validator creditcoin withdraw-unbonded